A champion for our community, Council Member Carter has worked hard to:

Melvin volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, building a home in Frogtown

Drive Community-Based Education Reform that benefits all our children

• Created the Frogtown/Summit-University Community Investment Campus, a unique coalition of City, School District, County and community leaders to support education.
  
  
• Led a local delegation - including the Mayor and leaders from the County, Schools, and community - on a  trip to Harlem Children’s Zone to learn from their success in closing the achievement gap.
  
  
• Won one of 21 U.S. Department of Education grants nationwide to build a Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, supporting kids from cradle to career - right here in Ward 1!

Ensure Central Corridor Light Rail Transit serves our community well

• Won LRT stations at Western, Victoria and Hamline Avenues.
  
  
• Secured public resources to mitigate the loss of parking and support businesses during construction.
  
  
• Working to prevent displacement of residents & businesses.
  
  
• Building a vibrant streetscape.
  
  
• Making sure neighborhood residents are engaged and their voices are heard.

Promote Economic Development, Job Training, and Good Jobs for our neighbors

Melvin reading to students at Jackson
Elementary —one of the Promise
Neighborhood Schools

• Frogtown Square - $13 million project with 11,000 sq ft of commercial (small & minority owned businesses) and 48 senior housing units above.
  
  
• Gillette Children’s Hospital - $26.25 million of renovation and expansion which will include a new surgery unit, new inpatient rooms and space for new family support services.
  
  
• J&J Distributing - $8.5 million in expansion work and energy efficiency upgrades; 150 new jobs at a Saint Paul company that hires locally and pays a living wage.

Melvin volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, building a home in Frogtown

• Led the community-based process to create Saint Paul’s new Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO). Sponsored authorizing legislation and chaired the search committee to nominate its director.  
  HREEO Impacts:
  • Vendor Outreach Program increased St. Paul Housing & Redevelopment Authority contracts with women & minority-owned business by $139 million in one year;
  • Achieved 24% workforce participation of people of color—more than twice the established goal—in construction of the new Polar Bear Odyssey exhibit at Como Zoo;
    
  • Launched EMS Academy, a nationally-recognized paid training program for young people to become certified as Emergency Medical Technicians, qualifying them for good-paying jobs in the medical field.
  • Launched CDL program to get unemployed residents certified with a Commercial Driver's License to position them to meet the demand for good-paying jobs along Central Corridor.

Melvin speaking at an Alpha Phi Alpha event

Craft Sound Public Policy to improve residents' quality of life

• Tenants in Foreclosure Ordinance - requires landlords to notify tenants of a pending foreclosure on a rental property;
  
  
• Tobacco Imitation Products Ordinance - fights marketing of tobacco to children by making St. Paul the first city in the nation to ban sales of candy cigarettes & toy lighters.
  
  
• Allergy Awareness Ordinance - Educates food service workers about the dangers of serious food allergies.